To Mr. President, amiable VP, legislators and House of Reps.
I, hope you would also deem it fit to cut your salaries to fund research that
affect the common Nigerian populace. Research in Nigerian institutions cannot
depend solely on funding from developed nations and non-profit organization!!!!
The time to act was yesterday but it is never too late to retrace our steps.
I am no expert at pandemic disease and global health crisis
but the responses of African leaders and Nigerian leaders to be specific to the
global health crisis of Covid-19 has generated a lot of mixed reactions in my
mind. Should I be happy that finally this pandemic is generating the right
responses in “our so-called leaders” about the dire and terrible state of
affairs of the Nigeria public health system or should I be sad that it has
taken a disease which at the present is yet to cause a lot of fatality and
mortality in Nigeria for our leaders to wake up from their slumber and act! Oh,
I forgot, for now most of the positive cases are in these corrupt leaders that
have travelled and then come home in the face of crises in other nations.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria, they will still be given priority for the limited
health care available. Sad.
From the abode of my room, I have read with disdain news
alerts such as “Dangote, Wigwe lunch Coalition Against Coronavirus, “Sterling
bank offers free medicals”; “Kenya president, VP take 80% salary cut to fund fight
against coronavirus”, “Kyari wrote to the leadership of the national assembly
not to evade screening at airport”. What!!! What have all these so-called
leaders done in the face of cholera outbreak, neglected tropical diseases,
yellow fever, malaria, Salmonella outbreak, Lassa fever outbreak to name a few.
How come none of these people deemed it fit to significantly contribute towards
research and treatment for the aforementioned disease in Nigeria and Africa as
a whole? How come they were not forming coalitions to work on sleeping
sickness? Is it because these diseases do not affect them in high-walled,
golden-laced houses? Or is it because they can travel at their wimp to
developed nations for “medical treatment”. I dare them now to travel. Shame!!!!
At the beginning of this pandemic and when the first case
was isolated in Nigeria, I celebrated. Not because having this disease in
Nigeria is a good thing, but because due to the actions of few public and
private institutions still working in Nigeria, we are not only able to detect
the disease in Nigeria but we were able to submit the genomic sequence for the
index case for access by everyone around globe. Kudos to everyone at NCDC,
ACEGID and NIMR and all their partners that have ensured we have institutions
that can act at the right moment for situations like this. This is a feat
achieved by institutions which one cannot say were directly and completely
funded by the Nigerian government. Shame!!!!
Afterwards, as every Nigerian, present in Nigeria or
elsewhere in the world, I have hung on to every ray of hope that by chance this
cup would pass us by. Perhaps, the average Nigerian walking on the streets of
Gbagada, Lagos in search of his next meal will not be susceptible. Or that by
sheer luck, the receptor to which the virus binds to would not be present in
Nigerians as if we are not humans. Or perhaps the virus will not be able to
survive the heat and humidity present in tropical regions. Or maybe by virtue
of the fact that we have being exposed to a lot of pathogens in our lifetime,
that trained immunity would make the “average Nigerian” not susceptible to this
virus. As the number of positive cases continue to rise in Nigeria and research
on CoVID-19 continues elsewhere in world, some of these hypotheses and rays of
hope have continued to be shattered. Sad.
This is not because I am okay with this disease affecting
other parts of the world; we are anyway all humans, intricately connected and
linked and every human life is important irrespective of race, age, nationality
and religion. Rather, I was more concerned for Nigeria because I know for
certain that the less than 500 ventilators currently present in Nigeria cannot
serve the around 200 million Nigerian population. Oh, that is if we even have
electricity to keep these ventilators going. This is because I am aware that in
the face of crisis, the access to health and critical care found elsewhere in
the world will still be disproportionate in my beloved country based on your
position in the society and weight of your pocket rather than need. Sad!
Since I have been studying infectious disease, I can tell
you for a fact that based on most infectious disease maps, Nigeria has high
disease incidence and prevalence rates for a lot of infectious diseases. I have
sat in different classes and seminars during my graduate studies, looking at
these maps and sometimes feeling a note of helplessness. What can I do to help
and act? Many times, I have wondered how our leaders can attend meetings with
other world leaders in their Babarigas and with a straight face get funding
resources necessary for these global health disease and research, pocket it and
share it amongst themselves. Double shame!!!!!!
Major takeaways
While this is not the time to gloat about our past inactions
and corrupt practices, I would hope this moment will bring a positive
turnaround for everyone, including myself, and to the people in those
high-powered rooms and places.
Dear Aliko Dangote and Herbet Wigwe, I understand you are
but private citizens trying to make your money and do your best in the face of
this crisis. While medical tents are great initiatives in the face of Covid-19,
please note that Nigeria as a nation needs more than that. We need to equip
health and research institutions that can step up to act in the face of any
epidemic or pandemic. We need structures that can last the test of time and
that we can rely on for the next super pathogen coming along. Ebola and
Covid-19 are just telling us to be ready.
To the GTBs, Sterlings and other corporate organizations,
thanks for your responses so far. However, I am hopeful that this will suggest
to you that part of your corporate social responsibility should not only be
limited to sponsoring talent shows, musical shows and Big Brothers but funds
should also be directed towards research, education, medicine, building lasting
infrastructures and helping the STEM field in general. We need all hands on
deck working toward building sustainable solutions to tackle health and
economic crisis that would affect us all.
Dear Abba Kyari, I hope you will display the same firmness
and staunchness to the National Assembly and House of Representative the next
time we have the next Yellow fever outbreak or Fevers of Unknown Origins (FUO)
that do not directly affect you.
To Mr. President, amiable VP, legislators and House of Reps.
I, hope you would also deem it fit to cut your salaries to fund research that
affect the common Nigerian populace. Research in Nigerian institutions cannot
depend solely on funding from developed nations and non-profit organization!!!!
The time to act was yesterday but it is never too late to retrace our steps.
To the Nigerian FSB board and other scholarship awarding
institution in Nigeria, I would like to believe that unlike what I was told
after my Commonwealth studies in the UK, this is the time for you to tap into
the wealth of learned Nigerian scholars some of which you have directly
sponsored for situations like this.
To some Nigerian higher institutions of learning, I hope
that the next funding allocation from TETFUND and any funding institutions will
not only be used to buy cars and carpets for your offices but will also be
directed towards research and effective learning at these institutions. I know
and understand that times are tough and hard, especially since funding and
resources for other administrative purpose like this are limited, but this is
perhaps something worth thinking about.
To the Nigerian pastors, in case you did not know before, we
have lots of infectious diseases in Nigeria. Therefore, if your explanation is
that we were exempted from Covid-19 prior to this because of our prayers, then
I wonder why, year in year despite our prayers, those infectious disease maps
that I had earlier alluded to are not decreasing. This is time for you to
contribute as well to the public health crisis in the nation. When Christianity
was brought to Nigeria, it started with building hospitals etc, I hope this
will also suggest to you that we need you to also contribute your quota. We are
a sinful nation, anyway; judging by those maps, prayers and miracles are not
the only solution. God has also given the humble and low-hearted wisdom; we
need to use it.
To the Nigerian government, I hope this will suggest to you
that paying competitive salaries and benefits for your professionals is not
just a right for those professionals but it is necessary for you to continue to
build a 21st century workforce that can be solutions providers and innovators
rather than one contributing to the brain drain we continue to experience in
our dear nation. These professionals would be critical at a time like this for
us to develop homegrown solutions that would help to build the health care
systems and the economy, which might be unique to every country. For example,
even if Chloroquine works other countries, can we reliably say we don’t have
Chloroquine resistance in Nigeria, or is every other country dealing with the
attendant crisis associated with oil doom?
Finally, to the Nigerian scientists and scholars in the
diaspora, including me, who have received one scholarship or funding offer
based on personal statements detailing your passion and interest to contribute
towards the development of Nigeria and Africa in general but have not looked
back and have continued to enjoyed the “abroad”, we are all part of the
problem. We are as complicit in the crime as those politicians. I understand
that many at times, some have tried to do their best without being given the
opportunity but I believe we should be able to use our skillset and knowledge
to solve problems rather than parading the statistics on proportion of
Nigerians with PhDs in the US.
As an African tainted by my religious bias, I continue to
pray that Nigeria and the whole world in general heals at this moment.
Oyebola Oyesola is a PhD student in the Department of
Immunology and Infectious Disease at Cornell University, New York
0 Comments